Battle of the Week: Supply Runner

Supply Runner at Level 1. What to do with this card. To be honest, at this level I think the mana cost is a bit high, and other cards in the life splinter often get chosen over this because of some ability.

Pelecor Arbalest has double strike, and for the same 6 mana.
Mantoid (6 mana) and the Lone Boatman (5 mana) have snipe.
Venari Crystalsmith (4 mana) has tank heal.
Prismologist (8 mana) has blast, and more attack, for 2 more mana.

Supply Runner doesn't get its first ability until Level 5! That is when it gains the swiftness ability, which is a huge boost to your team. But at level 1, all it gives you is a little speed. Which I will admit, the life splinter is usually lacking.

So this weekly battle challenge really did come as a challenge. Still, I was up for it and came through with a solid win on my first go. Here is how I played it.

I had an interesting lineup, but first the summoner. With supply runner being a ranged attacker I wanted to give him a boost, so I went with General Sloan. My level 2 General Sloan doesn't do much here except to give my Pelacor Arbolest a tiny boost, as none of my other monsters are leveled. However it does help pack some punch into this lineup. The problem with using a lot of ranged attackers is the fact that if the tank monsters in front fall, then they are sitting ducks in the first position, totally unable to attack.

So its risky, but I thought it may be unexpected. I'm banking on my tank, Shieldbearer to live long enough and draw fire with his taunt ability to give my ranged attackers time to take down the field.

My opponent has a solid strategy though, focused on speed and shield replenishment, with some tough backline hitting monsters in deeplurker and feasting seaweed. It doesn't look good at the start.

After round 1 I am so thankful for slipping in my creeping ooze with the slow ability. My supply runner, arbolast, and prismologist are all hitting their targets. My Shieldbearer has taken a beating but still stands, and the enemies Deamonshark has been vanquished! That pesky 1 shield on all the enemies is still looking daunting. They have chosen a very good summoner for this matchup.

After round 2 things are still touch and go. It definitely looks like I'm in danger of my supply runner getting to first position. However, if I can just knock out their deeplurker I might have a chance. One of the saving graces so far is the double strike from the arbalest and the blast damage from prismologist knocking down the shields of the enemies. Supply Runner's 3 damage, in addition to this adds up to a whopping 13 damage plus 1 blast damage from just my last 3 cards.

Phew! What a fight. As you can see at the start of Round 4 the enemy has almost no fight left in him. Ice Pixie can hit me for 1 damage, my supply runner is useless except to soak up that 1 damage, and I still have the Abalest and Prismologist slamming them from the back line.

Victory is mine!

Check out the full battle here. And if you are new to splinterlands and want a bonus when signing up you can find a link here as well!
https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_d8e0450ee4b116d4bb5916fc04d686ec&ref=dtam

While I can't say that Supply Runner made all the difference in the world, I can say that at least he didn't make me lose!

Challenge complete!

-Dtam